INFLUENCE OF ANCHORING ON THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY: EVIDENCE IN THE CONSUMPTION OF ORGANIC FOOD

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the impact of the anchoring heuristic on the willingness to pay for organic strawberries. We investigated how this heuristic changes the agents' perception on the price of the product and ends up guiding their purchase decision. To achieve this objective, an online survey was conducted with 373 consumers, assessing their socioeconomic characteristics and their willingness to pay for the fruit. The results showed that prices were influenced by the High Anchor. The willingness to pay of this group showed a difference of more than 50%, being statistically significant, in relation to the average price obtained in the Low Anchor group and in the Neutral group (no price reference). In addition, regression analyses, which sought to assess the determinants of individuals' willingness to pay, confirmed this influence.